Aosora
by Zahnegirl
Summary: A fairytale... a twisted fairytale. With a Hunter, a Doll, a Nursery Rhymes book, a terrifying war project... and of course, all of your favourite LE characters!


5

**Aosora**

By Zahnegirl.

Disclaimer : I do not own story and characters of "Last Exile". But I will surely use them for the set up of my twisted little fairytale, oh oh oh...

Hope you'll enjoy it !

**Chapter one :** **The Doll House.**

It began like a fairytale.

_Once upon a time... _

A beautiful old-stone manor, set on the greenest fields of the country, far away from the Imperial city.

With its ivy coat on the walls, its luxurious garden covered with thick grass and hairy trees, a passing-by vanship crew peeping at it from the sky above would have thought it just looked like a bird nest, a cosy little bird nest. Safe and warm.

However, they would never get a chance to see it closely, and even less to stare at the beautiful roses that bloomed everywhere in the manor's grounds, everywhere, as long as it wasn't beyond the sharp-edged walls that surrounded it.

Nobody was to know of that place.

It was the most beautiful place in the world.

The most silent place in the world.

The most terrifying place in the world.

Windows always closed. Silence breathing through every breaches of the old stone. Even though there was life inside the manor, nobody ever made a noise. Even though the gardens were always well-kept, nobody walked down the paths or enjoyed the fresh scented shadows of the welcoming trees.

That place smelled of nightmares. A rotten dream that, even seeing how far the rot has come, how dangerous it was getting, nobody dared stop it. Because it was for a Good Purpose.

It began like a fairytale. It was just like a fairytale.

_Once upon a time... there was a princess living in a somptous castle. _

She couldn't tell how long she had passed there. It seemed like she has always been there. The walls, the floor, the door, the chair on which she was sitting, all were part of herself. She was that room. And as the time passed by, she began to be the manor itself. And she could exactly know what was going on in every inch of that place. Even though she had never set a foot outside that room. Without even moving from her sit.

She couldn't tell whether she liked that place or not, whether she was unhappy or not. She couldn't because she didn't know how to. Nobody has ever taught her to feel.

Sitting alone on her chair, she looked like a lovely doll waiting for her little owner's return from school or tea.

And that was exactly who she was and what she was doing. A doll waiting for her owner.

_The princess was always alone. She neither has family, nor friends. Standing alone among the blooming roses of her castle, she was waiting._

Even though very often, people would come around in her room, it was only to watch closely the chair in which she always sat. It was a large armchair, and her little feet could barely touch the floor when she was in it. She never swayed her feet. She always stayed still.

They never looked at her. Ever.

But it didn't matter. She didn't care.

No pain, no sorrow, no joy, no happiness. Her face was as lovely and still as a doll's. No smile, no laugh, no tear. Just those empty patient eyes of a doll.

Silently, she kept on watching what was going on in every inch of the manor.

_She was waiting. Until that day, the day he came to her. _

_And it wasn't the doll's little owner. _

_It was the Hunter. _

_And he came to kill her._

_Because the doll was a monster. _

And that's it for the fairytale. Because then, it became real.

* * *

They called it " the Nursery ". That was the room he had to keep under good watch. He did so for six years. He wasn't allowed to open the door, to enter the room or to ask what was in it. And he sticked to the rules until the end. Until the day the bird arrived, with a piece of paper tied to its foot.

Actually, he already knew what was in " the Nursery ". Six years ago, the Old Man told him. And in the very end, he also told him about that day. It wasn't to happen. It was just in case of... The Old Man himself did not feel quite sure at that moment. It was surely due to the words he used to tell him. Surely at that moment, it actually looked like the only natural ending of such a dream. A rotten dream.

Anyway, he didn't feel concerned about what was going to happen. For him, it was the end of his last mission. Then, he would be retired. And he would have time, lots of time. Plenty of time, and all of it to remember again and again what had happened here, and in all those other places he was sent to. He had never felt concerned about it, while doing it. But after that day, he would remember. He had to. That was the reason why he always looked at their faces and watched every detail of what happened.

They called him " the Quiet Man ". He never hurried, never talked and always passed through the hallways at a peacefull pace.

And quietly he walked through the empty and silent manor on that last day. The day of the Hunter.

* * *

The manor was muffled up in his usual silence. However, it was feeling different. She couldn't tell why, for she couldn't leave the room, but it was different. Every inch of the manor was empty. She watched again and again. It was still empty.

No.

Almost empty.

Someone was coming.

She did not panick. She didn't feel afraid, she didn't want to run away or hide. She just stayed in the armchair as she used to do. Her patient doll eyes staring at the Claudia-lighted ceiling. The pale blue stones were scattered all over it, casting the fake twilight of an endless fake night over the room.

* * *

Of course, the door was locked. Nevertheless, it didn't trouble him. He calmly put his right hand on the handle and pushed it down, very gently, until a small creaking noise escaped from the lock.

It sounded like the step of a passing-by knight pushing open the door to the forgotten castle. The empty castle, with blood stains and dead bodies all over the ground floor's hall and a monster in the nursery. But no Princess at all.

There never was any Princess in that place. The most beautiful place in the world.

The " Nursery " was opened.

Without haste, the " Quiet Man " pushed the door.

A room, night-coloured shadows on the walls, pale blue moon in the ceiling. A large armchair, in the middle of that room.

He slowly walked a few strides. Then stopped.

A child. It was a child. A girl. Six years old, of course. She was as still as a doll, sitting in her armchair and staring at him with empty patient eyes. She was naked, her long hair pushed back over the top of the armchair.

His face remained perfectly still, perfectly calm.

Without haste, the " Quiet Man " held out his hand to her with one quiet word : " Come."

She heard the word but couldn't understand it. Nobody had ever spoken to her before.

Seeing that she wasn't reacting at all, he slowly took off his uniform coat, wrapped her in it, and lifted her up in his arms.

She didn't react either. Though it was quite different from what she has been used to before. Everything tasted unusual, since she saw that the manor was empty.

They crossed the doorstep.

Something made her eyes ache. Something quite bright, that she couldn't grasp to push it away.

The sun-light, through the large hallway's windows.

The child rubbed her doll eyes but it wasn't getting away.

The " Quiet Man " continued to walk through the hallway, then down the stairs, over the blood stains on the hall, and to the garden, where the light was at its brightest.

This Hunter never slayed in the shadow of the dawn, nor in the falling twilight. It had always been outside under morning skies. And he would always remember every face, every inch of their features. Because he loved all of them.

In the untouched garden, roses were still blooming. Trees whispered softly between them through the breeze. Somewhere up in a branch, the pigeon that had brought him the piece of paper from the Old Man was cooing. It was the first animal in that place for six years, since the begining of it all.

The smell of the grass, of the sun.

The clear blue sky. A sky as pure and scented as it has been freshly washed and hung out there, under the sun, to dry. Gently floating.

In his arms, the quiet child with patient doll eyes. Now that they were standing in the light, he could see and remember her. The last of them. She had long and soft chestnut hair. Hazel eyes. She was the most beautiful child he had ever seen. A lovely little doll.

There was no need to hurry. So he calmly watched her.

She was getting used to the light, even if it was still bright.

The world all around her was moving. And there was also noises. Everywhere around. It felt strange because it was like lots of people trying to whisper something in her ear at the same time. And it was... it was...

She felt something on her cheek. It was her hair. No. It was something else. Like a hand. She slowly patted her face. There it goes again. And just like the light, she couldn't grasp it. The wind.

She lifted her head up.

To the sky.

And it felt... it felt... it felt...

It felt.

For real. For the first time.

It felt beautiful, it felt wonderful. It felt like breathing, like a heartbeat. All of that, she couldn't express. But it didn't matter. For she was feeling.

She was feeling the sky outside of her, between her stretched arms, her stretched fingers. She was feeling the sky inside of her, it was beating at the same time as her doll heart. She was wanting it. She desperately wanted to cling her little hands on that huge blue sky, hide her face in it and then hugg it as strongly as she could.

And there wasn't any doll anymore.

And the " Quiet Man " saw the old doll's eyes melt.

And he didn't know what to do. For it was now a child that he was holding in his arms.

A child that was clumsily, noisily sobbing, with all her newly-born heart.

She was a newly-born baby, and it was him who had caught her and held her out to this world.

He, the Hunter, had given life.

Because he was the last person that they would see on this earth, he always did his best to love, forgive and remember every one of those he had to slay. But now, he was cruelly aware that he had done a terrible mistake, without even meaning it. And if he tried to fix it up, to end all as usual, then, he suddenly felt sure that he would never ever remember them at all. He would only remember himself and what he had done that day, his last hunting day.

They never said it in the fairytale but the Hunter was always alone. The Hunter was always the loneliest, the sadest character of the story.

He carefully put the girl down on the grass. Her sobbs were still wet but had slightly weaken.

He gently put back on her shoulders the half-fell uniform coat and bent forward to button it. Her arms disapeared into the long embroidered coat sleeves. He patiently rolled them up. Then, he took the girl's face in his lef hand and with two fingers of the other, with one brief and neat pull, he took out one of her teeth.

She didn't say a word. She didn't moan. Her eyes only half-closed for a second.

The " Quiet Man " stood up and holding out his hand toward the tree where the pigeon was cooing, he whistled. The bird came to him, silky noise of his wings pushing through the air.

Without a look, the Hunter headed back to the manor, bird on his shoulder, tooth in his hand.

The child stayed still, head lifted up to the sky. A tiny drop of blood on the corner of her mouth.

She started to watch every inch of the sky.

And when the pigeon rushed past her, she followed it to the sky. She followed it, even long after the blue depth has swallowed it. Exactly knowing where it was.

* * *

A small round room, with one small arched window.

A table, with a tiny piece of paper and a child milk tooth on it.

A chair, with a very old and very tired man in it.

He was holding a book in his hands, one of those large cardboard-covered children books.

He was looking like a dreamer that had just woken up from a nightmare, both relieved to see that it was over and still anguished by what he had seen.

" Finally, it ended. Finally, it is over." he softly repeated.

He slowly put down the book on the table. His wrinkled fingers stretched and get hold of a carved wooden walking stick. He stood up.

" That rotten dream. We weren't prepared to control it. We will never be."

He walked to the door.

" And our Majesty will have to bear war without it."

He left the room.

Sun rays spilled over the table.

The colours of the children book cover lightened up.

" Nursery Rhymes " was its title.

* * *

By noon, the Hunter came back to her. He was carrying a canvas bag on one shoulder. The girl was still standing on the grass, at the same place he had left her, quietly watching the sky.

He put down his bag on the ground then lifted her up and sat her down on his shoulders. That was good, for she could keep on watching the sky. For there was so much more up there to watch. And she wanted to watch every inch of the sky.

Her little hands cupped under his chin, palms against his cheeks.

The man and the child set off, crossing without haste the manor's gate, down to the greenest fields of the country. Behind them, a small dark smoke stretched out of the manor roof.

_The doll was a monster. _

_But the Hunter did not kill her. _

_Even knowing that in the end, _

_She was to kill all of them. _

* * *

" How touching..."

The young girl smiled to the sinister-faced fishes of her beautiful aquarium, in the beautiful restroom of her beautiful castle in the air.

"Shall I go and bring them to you, my Queen ? " asked a sinister-faced tall man behind her.

The young girl turned to him and, prettily putting her head on one side, she answered with the most adorable pout :

" You'll surely spoil all the pretty fairytale !"

" But isn't the fairytale over ? "

The young girl started to absent-mindedly tear off the soft petals of a red rose button he was wearing on her breast.

" Over ?"

She sweetly laughed. Her perfect white feet beautifully covered by a fresh-scented pool of red petals. Her perfect white teeth twinkled in her shark red lips.

" It has only begun. "

She added to the sinister-faced tall man, as if she was comforting him :

" Don't worry : fairtytales are all supposed to end up happily, aren't they ? "

And with a confident smile the Red Queen finished:

" And that one will be the most beautiful, touching fairytale of all. Because I did write it. And it will all happily end. A beautiful, happy ending. For us, of course."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Well, well... I hope you've enjoyed this "fairytale-like" beginning !

There will be scattered references to other animes, mangas and fairytales all along the story... let's see if you guess them all !

Don't hesitate to review, to tell me what you thought of that first introduction

All critics are welcomed AS LONG AS IT WILL BE CONSTRUCTIVE.

(And I apologize for all the grammar mistakes... english isn't my mother-tongue, but I'll try and do my best, yeah !)

See you next chapter !


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